Tater Tot Hotdish

Feast your eyes on the Queen of Minnesota
comfort foods:
the Tater Tot Hotdish!


This is the mainstay of church suppers, social events and potlucks.

We had been wanting make a tater tot hotdish for a while, but it's such a big recipe that we waited til we had more people around to eat it. (While it may be great stuff when it comes out of the oven, it's not that great when reheated.)

My granddaughter is now attending a university in St Paul and she's often "crashing" here instead of fighting freeway traffic. So last night, we invited the neighbors over for supper . When the five of us we sat down to eat, Pat, (who is a native Minnesotan and fifty years old ) informed us he had never eaten Tater Tot Hotdish before.

Incredible! Unbelievable! Well... We sat that guy down and served him up some hotdish, and boy-oh-boy, did he love it!

So, just in case any of you have been gastronomically deprived of this delightful repast, here is the recipe:

TATER TOT HOTDISH

1. Brown 2 lbs hamburger with 1 c chopped onions and drain.
2. Add 2 cans undiluted cream soups (mushroom, chicken, celery)
3. Mix in a 10-oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables
4. Combine and spread in a 9 x 13 pan or large casserole
5. Spread a 2-lb bag of Tator Tots over the top
6. Bake uncovered at 375 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours until the Tater Tots are brown and crunchy on top.

You'll thank me later!

Things that make me smile

I find dogs dressed up for Halloween are adorable. I know that some folks think it's demeaning to the dog but this little fella doesn't seem to mind.

Last Halloween, my granddaughter invited me out to her neighborhood pet store where they were having a "cutest dog-costume" contest. She dressed her two Chihuahuas as a pirate and a vampire. Among the many competitors were a wooly little lamb and a bumblebee. The contest winner was a handsome Great Dane in a cowboy outfit.

When I googled "Halloween dog costumes", I discovered it is really big business! So, enjoy the fun while it lasts.

I personally have never had a Halloween costume. Although, once I wore a pair of Garfield Deely-Bobbers to a party. As I remarked at the time, "There really are so few functions where one can wear their Deely-Bobbers!"

The Pride of Minnesota

These are the celebrated Coen brothers from the Twin Cities suburb of St Louis Park MN. They have written, produced and directed a lot of really good movies. (One of my favorites is Fargo. Some folks thought it ridiculed the way Minnesotans talk and act, but the fact of the matter is--some of us do.) Their new movie, A Serious Man is being released this week.

Anyway, they also have done such other films as: Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Burn After Reading, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou, and Intolerable Cruelty (among a bunch of others). The Walker Museum of Modern Art recently ran a retrospective of their films.

The suburb of St Louis Park also produced such other illustrious folks as Senator Al Franken (a former writer and performer on Saturday Night Live) and Thomas Friedman, columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Minnesota is justifiably proud of these native sons. But there is a dirty little secret behind the reason all these men came from one suburb--they are all Jewish. The "Minnesota Nice" Gentiles back in the 50's had restricted Jews from many suburbs. St Louis Park was not restricted, so the Jewish families settled there.

I have a friend by the name of Chaiya (Hiya) who grew up in St Louis Park. She said when she was born her parents also gave her the Gentile name of "Wendy" because so many people were prejudiced against Jews. All through her school years she went by Wendy, but after that, she embraced her Jewish name and has gone by Chaiya ever since.

There are a lot of good people in Minnesota. I hope that this lesson on bigotry has not been wasted on us. None of those suburbs that smugly discriminated against the Jews back in the 50's have anything to brag about today--either in producing successful progeny or in taking the high moral ground.

More turkey talk

The turkeys were back again this morning. This time, they were taking turns roosting up in the crabapple tree and eating the tiny apples. As usual, they didn't stay very long. They seem to be restless birds, always on the move. The way that all fourteen stay together makes me think they're a single brood. Mama Turkey sent them off to live on their own but they stay together for safety.

I noticed that one bigger one has a little nubbin on top of his beak and a small red flap below it. He's most certainly a male and will grow the red wattle and majestic tail (see picture).

I don't know what dangers they will be facing, but I'm afraid most of them won't survive the winter. With so much competition for food, it's going to be tough. I'd be tempted to put out food for them but it would be expensive and my neighbors would be really angry.

Much as I'd like to, I can't mother everything. Sigh...

Posting on a rainy day

It has been cold and rainy for days. But, for the third day in a row, 14 wild turkeys have been patroling the grassy area behind my building looking for snacks.

The first day, the cats were afraid, the next day they were curious, and now they're downright bored.

Likewise, on the first day, we were all excited and called the neighbors and snapped pictures of the turkeys (none of which turned out). The second day, we watched them until they wandered off. The third day, I remarked in passing, "The turkeys are back again."

How quickly we become jaded by repetition!

Celebrating my existance

Sometimes something in your past comes along and startles you into a shocking realization.

Case in point: the Asian Flu epidemic of '57 - '58. It was a really bad one and I got sick in January of 1958. I wasn't the only one--50% of the kids in our local school came down with it. (We didn't have all the health warnings and Purell in those days.)

After I recovered, however, I continued to be sick every morning when I got up. I slowly realized that I was pregnant. A few months later, I had a miscarriage.

In yesterday's newspaper, I read an article about the increased threat the H1N1 virus poses to pregnant women. A high percentage of the fatalities so far have been pregnant women. At the very end of the article, it mentions that in the Asian Flu epidemic, 50% of pregnant women died from the disease.

This means I had a 50/50 chance of dying in 1958! Well, how about that!

It's crazy-making to contemplate that one might not be alive. But, if I weren't, a really great bunch of people wouldn't exist either. So today, I celebrate my four wonderful children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren! They are my proudest "achievement"!

Could we have a little more creativity please?

I became a big TV fan back in 1953 when my parents got our first set. I have watched TV ever since, eagerly anticipating the new shows debuting each year on the fall line-up.

Sadly, it's become apparent I've finally become jaded by so many formulaic TV shows. Why must they all be so much alike?

There is inevitably a hot-shot guy, a pretty blond woman, the newbie (either gender), the stern boss, the comic or generally annoying type, and the good buddy. Just add some ethnic variety to the mix and you have every TV cast of nearly every show.

I silently moan whenever the generic "hottie" shows up and pretends to be an actress. There are so many wonderful actresses out of work, yet the only new show that has managed to employ one is NCIS-LA. The delightful Linda Hunt has a regular role.

On the new show Mercy, Michelle Trachtenberg plays a pretty blond nurse with two sidekicks: a pretty, pouty young newbie and a pretty black hottie. The veteran actress Kate Mulgrew is relegated to playing her boozy mother.

Then there's Trauma, another perfect example... But I rant too much.

There's no longer any money in new ideas. The Networks are scared to death of creativity. The demographics (by which they make money on advertising) dictate that there must be hotties and hunks. So we suffer through yet another season of dreary offerings.